Concord Museum reexamines events of April 19, 1775

Wednesday

Apr 30, 2014 at 4:23 PMMay 1, 2014 at 12:23 PM

By Chris BergeronDaily News staff

CONCORD - The very iron lantern and battered drum that called Colonial patriots to Concord and Lexington on April 19, 1775 greet visitors to "The Shot Heard Round the World,’’ a powerfully engaging exhibition at the Concord Museum.Infusing the familiar tale of our nation’s bloody birth pains with gunfire and fresh life, curator David Wood and militaria expert Joel Bohy have organized the show around an hour-by-hour chronology of those historic events that carry along visitors as if they were there.Standing between the lantern used to send Paul Revere on his famous ride and the drum 16-year-old William Diamond beat to summon militia to Lexington Common, Wood said he’d spent "a very long time’’ developing fresh ways to present the events not as singular incidents, but as developing acts of complex historical forces working themselves out over the course of a monumental day that changed human history."Though a great deal has been written about April 19, it is still the case that some details of the action that day are found only in the surviving artifacts,’’ said Wood. "Through this exhibition, we hope not just to assemble these relics but also to reexamine them for the evidence they may contain about the events of that day.’’Visitors will see 65 objects that have taken on the power of American relics - muskets and powder horns, swords and blood-stained equipment – carried by Minutemen, Colonial militia and British regulars throughout the daylong battle that ranged from Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy – present day Arlington – and Cambridge that sparked the armed conflict that freed the 13 Colonies from Great Britain and created the United States of America.They’ll see commonplace objects, wooden spoons, military shovels, and a mirror from militia Capt. David Brown’s Concord house, likely smashed by an angry British soldier. And they’ll see the bloodstained silk hatband of one of the first Minutemen killed at the North BridgeJust as importantly, they will see handwritten reports and letters from principal figures, including Revere, John Hancock and John Hosmer, that provide revealing details about Colonials’ preparations and intentions to provoke the British regulars they expected to confront in Concord and Lexington.While popular history has often construed the outbreak of armed conflict as a series of spontaneous coincidences, Wood believes the documents show Colonials were fed up with taxes and British assertiveness and "were determined to get this thing going.’’To confirm his idea, he pointed to a letter of April 10 from Jonathan Hosmer, who’d responded to warnings British regulars were coming, by predicting, "There will be bloody work.’’ Wood observed, a week later, Hosmer’s son Abner was killed on the North Bridge.The organizers have configured the gallery so visitors who enter from the left will follow events starting from the prior day, April 18, at 10 p.m. when British General Thomas Gage coordinated plans to seize colonial arms supplies and Revere prepared to spread the alarm.Throughout the show, separate alcoves are marked with a time, place and theme provides a context for the objects on display.For example, in the section designated "Lexington, April 19, midnight – 5 p.m., Captain John Parker’s statement, "I ordered the militia to meet on the common,’’ has been printed in red in a font resembling old handwriting to convey a sense of authenticity.An expert in weaponry, Bohy described several muskets on display that had been carried into battle that day as powerful, modern arms that fired large-caliber rounds that could seriously wound or kill a man at 50 to 100 yards."So much animosity had been building up over the years between the British and Colonials, it only took a spark to set it off,’’ he said.Visitors can view on adjacent walls a pair of remarkable artifacts of two Acton Minutemen killed in the early action at the North Bridge, Hosmer’s powder horn and Capt. Isaac Davis’s sword that broke when he fell down.For a history buff, for an American, these objects evoke the power of relics, once born by ordinary men whose deaths elevate them into a pantheon of martyrs.Many visitors will discover people and stories that bring American history alive in exciting ways.Made just a month after the battle, Amos Doolittle’s engraved and colored prints render scenes in Concord and Lexington with equal amounts of historical accuracy and patriotic drama.A letter from an unnamed British officer, who attacked the home of Colonial Jason Russell, notes three English fatalities and matter-of-factly stated: "We soon got into the house & I counted 11 Yankies dead in it.’’At a time people are dying in the streets of Ukraine, Syria and Tibet for the right to govern themselves, this exhibit is a timely reminder of the sacrifices made in freedom’s name at the birth of the United States.When Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "Concord Hymn’’ 62 years later for the dedication of the Battle Monument in 1837, there must have been people in the crowd who had witnessed "the embattled farmers (who) ... fired the shot heard round the world.’’More than two centuries later, this exhibit brings alive that day and those citizens who fought and died with thrilling reverence.Chris Bergeron is a Daily News staff writer. Contact him at cbergeron@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-4448. Follow us on Twitter @WickedLocalArts and on Facebook."The Shot Heard Around The World: April 19, 1775’’WHEN: Through Sept. 21WHERE: Concord Museum, 200 Lexington Road, ConcordINFO: 978-369-9763; ww.concordmuseum.org

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